There are many types of lawn and garden tools which can be utilized to remove weeds from the ground. Most of these tools have few or no moving parts and instead rely on fixed position blades of one configuration or another (e.g., shaped like a small shovel, trowel, fork, sickle, hoe, etc.) for facilitating weed removal. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,484,653, 5,469,923, 5,386,681, 5,360,071, 5,207,466, 5,188,340 and 5,060,997. Although these types of weed removing devices can be simple and inexpensive to manufacture, substantial manual effort is often required to remove the weeds from the ground or to remove the weed plug from the device. Further, these types of devices not well suited for removing the root structures of the weeds.
Other types of weed pulling or similar devices include movable blade-like members that are lever actuated and configured to penetrate the ground and grasp the weed upon actuation by the operator. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,535,833, 5,476,298, 5,154,465, 5,476,248 and 4,473,248. Because these types of tools require the operator to squeeze a hand-actuated lever to actuate the blade-like members about the weed and soil plug, a significant amount of hand strength is typically required, particularly during operation in difficult soil conditions (e.g., heavily compacted soil or high clay content).
Other known types of weeding devices employ rotating members configured for penetrating the ground (e.g., drill bits or augers) and exterminating the weed and corresponding root structure. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,865,259, 5,491,963, 3,444,934 and 2,763,222. Tools of this type, however, can be relatively complex and costly to manufacture and may be more prone to breakage than the foregoing types.
Another example of a known weed pulling device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,241. This patent discloses a manually operable weed remover consisting of a cluster of pivotal spikes guided by a bottom flange and pivotally attached to a handle. When the device is positioned over the center of a weed and downward pressure is applied, the flange is forced up by the ground and the spikes are forced into the ground in a converging motion around the weed. The plug is released from the device by actuation of a rod attached to a central knob or T-shaped handle. The weed remover may also be configured to store and deliver liquid or powdered weed killer. One drawback of the radial spikes and guide flange arrangement is that the narrow spikes can become bent from the repeated collapsing movement over prolonged use, particularly in rocky conditions. If even one spike becomes bent or otherwise out of radial alignment with the other spikes, the guide flange is unable to pass move vertically relative to spikes and the device becomes inoperative.
As such, there is a continuing need for new and improved manually operable garden tools which are simple to manufacture and which at the same time require less physical effort to remove weeds, and which remain operable even when used for prolonged periods in difficult soil conditions. In these and other respects, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.